MONTEBELLO – This time, the Bell Gardens High School boys basketball team didn’t have an opportunity to steal an Almont League win versus rival and host Montebello on Friday night in the regular-season finale.

That’s because Oilers junior Andrew Torres didn’t let it happen.

The 6-foot-4 winger scored a season- best 36 points, which complemented his 10 rebounds and helped the Oilers defeat the Lancers 96-86.

The win secures Montebello no worse than second place in league. The Oilers could still share the league crown if Mark Keppel upset Alhambra on Friday night. A final score was not available at time of publication.

Bell Gardens (14-13, 6-4), which used an Albert Chavez half-court shot to defeat Montebello in the team’s first meeting, will enter the postseason as the league’s No. 3 seed.

While both teams volleyed back and forth through a wild contest, the Daily News No. 5-ranked Oilers (18-10, 7-3) took control early in the fourth. Montebello took the lead for good on a Torres rebound and close-range putback with 2.1 seconds remaining in the third.

From that point, Montebello went on a pivotal 10-0 run that extended to a Jeremy Solis running layup off a Torres assist with 5:02 remaining in the fourth, which gave Montebello its biggest advantage at 77-68.

While Bell Gardens tried to battle back, the closest the Lancers came to challenging the Oilers was when Travon Williams hit a three, bringing the visitors to within two possessions at 88-82 with 52.8 The Lancers were unable to close the gap, though.

The win is Montebello’s fifth in a row as the Oilers improved to 5-0 in the second half of league play, a marked improvement from their 2-3 record to start. The Oilers’ inside game, fueled by Torres, was enough to hold off a wicked performance from Williams, who buried seven 3-pointers. Oilers center Antonio Worthy finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks, while teammate Jeremy Solis, who didn’t score a point the last time these teams played, scored 20 points off the bench.